1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a low-profiled electrical connector, and particularly to a low-profiled electrical connector used in a liquid crystal display (LCD) monitor for connecting the monitor with a computer mainframe, wherein the connector can achieve a good electrical connection with a complementary connector.
2. Description of Related Art
With the development of electronics technology, digital interfaces used in LCD was developed as a replacement for analogous interface. Three interface standards, i.e., Plug and Display (PandD), Digital Flat Panel (DFP) and Digital Visual Interface (DVI) are concomitant and DVI will be the promising standard thereof. The DVI standard was developed by Digital Visual Working Group (DDWG) on April 1999. Generally, an electrical connector according the DVI standard comprises a D-shaped insulative housing, a plurality of L-shaped terminals assembled in the insulative housing, a spacer for positioning the terminals and a shield enclosing the housing. The DVI electrical connector is mounted on a surface of a printed circuit board (PCB) for providing a digital and analogous signal transmission.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,210,218 B1, 5,692,912 B1, 6,338,652 B1, 5,931,687 B1, and 6,287,146 B1 disclose DVI connectors having L-shaped terminals. Each of the L-shaped terminals has a horizontal portion received in the housing and a tail portion bending downwardly from the horizontal portion for being soldered on a printed circuit board. Generally, the tail portion is too long to meet the low profile requirement. It is necessary to devise an improved terminal which can be used in a low profile DVI connector and which has a length long enough to obtain the require bulk resistance meeting the predetermined impedance of an interconnecting system including the DVI connector.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an electrical connector having improved terminals mounted therein whereby the connector can have a low profile.
In order to achieve the object set forth, an electrical connector comprises an insulative housing having a base portion, a mating portion extending forwardly from a front face of the base portion, a mounting portion extending rearwardly from a rear face of the base portion. A plurality of passageways is defined in the mating portion. A space is defined between the rear face of the base portion and an upper face of the mounting portion for receiving a PCB therein. A plurality of terminal inserts is received in the housing.
Each terminal insert has an insulation mounted to the base portion of the housing and a plurality of terminals insert molded with the insulation. Each terminal has a middle portion molded with the insulation, a mating portion extending forwardly from the middle portion into a corresponding passageway and a leg portion extending rearwardly from the middle portion for fitting through the PCB from a bottom to a top face thereof. The leg portion has a U-shaped configuration so that the terminal is long enough to obtain the required impedance in accordance with the interconnecting system, and can have a lowered profile so that the connector can have a reduced overall profile.